Teacher development

TEACHER DEVELOPMENT COMPONENT

  

The main goal of the Teacher Development Component is to support teacher professional development, to enhance the knowledge and skills of teachers for quality teaching and to improve students’ achievements.TDC started to build the school based training system and to empower schools as learning communities for their teachers and overcome traditional system in which  schools are passive recipient of training by education institutions.The idea is to represent the model of continuous professional development that does not include only participation on seminars and workshops for interactive methodology, but also includes other forms of teacher professional development that are part of everyday teaching practice such as mentoring of teachers (classroom observation, demonstration lesson, study group, joint lesson planning, and action research).From the beginning of the project, TDC and IRA consultants in partnerships with state education institutions (Bureau for development of the education) аре working on empowering and giving support to schools, school leaders and selected teacher trainers/mentors in assuming main responsibilities and autonomy in teacher professional development.

The TDC includes the following activities:

The main goal of these activities is training the teachers for use of interactive teaching methodologies.

1.   Trainings in interactive methodology (4 workshops per 3 days)

·         Teacher trainers/mentors (60) trained by IRA consultants -  May 2004 - February 2005

·         Teacher trainers (140) trained by 15 SEA master trainers – March 2005 – October 2005

·         Teachers (2892) trained by 200 teacher trainers (School-based training/dissemination of the workshops were organized)

2.   Teacher trainers’ qualification procedure

·         Teacher trainers/mentors (200) trained in facilitation skills – February and December 2005

·         200 teacher trainers completed teacher trainers’ qualification procedure (completion of portfolio as proof that they are prepared for delivering the workshops to their colleagues)

·         200 teacher trainers participated on planning and supervising meetings (4) lead by SEA master trainers in order to be better prepared for delivering workshops to their colleagues.

3.   Teachers’ qualification procedure

·         881 teacher (30,5%) out of 2892 trained teachers completed teachers’ qualification procedure (completion of portfolio as proof that they are implemented the interactive methodology in their teaching practice).

4.   Training the inspectors from State educational inspectorate and advisors from Bureau for development of the education.

·         41 inspector of the State Educational Inspectorate trained for interactive teaching -  March 2007

·         21 advisor from the Bureau for Development of Education trained for interactive teaching - April - May 2007

The mentoring program includes activities that provide continuous improvement of the quality of the instruction and student’s assessment which will result in higher students achievements.

The goals of the mentoring program are promoting culture of collaborative practice and positive collegiality and building the capacity of school staff to function as a professional learning community

Changes in classroom practice and visible impact of those changes on student learning require more then presenting a new methodology and participating on workshop. Our intention is that on going and various forms of teacher professional development will contribute easier to change school culture and attitudes so that teachers become better prepared to help students raising their performance.

1.   Training

·         200 teacher trainers participated on training for mentoring (3 days) - December 2006 For the mentoring manual click HERE

·         The goals of the workshops were gaining knowledge about how to give support to teachers and developing skills in giving directions for effective teaching.

2.   Teacher mentor qualification procedure

·         200 teacher trainers completed mentor qualification procedure:

-          Observation and evaluation by IRA consultants while applying mentoring techniques - April 2007

-          Participation on one-day supervisory meetings for planning model of class for effective instruction and for planning study group on topic from the instructional practice

-          Participation on one-day workshop lead by IRA consultant for reflection on lesson that was held in front of colleagues in the school - November 2007

-          Participation on one-day workshop lead by IRA consultant for deepening knowledge for lesson planning - April 2008

·         The role of mentors is to mentor other teachers in the school:

-          Advising on teaching strategies

-          Joint lesson planning

-          Observing instruction in the classroom

-          Demonstration lesson

-          Curriculum planning

-          Leading study groups

      3.   Teacher self-reflection

Apart from mentoring activities we constantly ask mentors to do reflection on their teaching practice and to write a reflective journal.

The intentions of using reflective journal writing are:

·         to share experiences, thoughts, questions, ideas and conclusions about their learning in every day practice and mentoring activities with other teachers.

·         to develop teacher mentors as reflective, critical and constructive learners.

·         to develop self-awareness of growth and professional development

      4.   Regional meetings (Study groups)

On these meeting there are deeper discussions of ideas, problem and solution of quality teaching, effective planning, effective classroom instruction and reflections of lesson plans, study groups.

Comments:

1.      TDC pilot mentoring program demonstrates good model how peer support activities such as coaching and mentoring are particularly effective methods of helping teachers to develop teaching practice.

2.      Pilot mentoring program achieved success and positive image as a new form of professional development in Macedonia with high level of impact on:

·         changes to professional knowledge and skills (teaching and mentoring)

·         changes in teaching practice

·         impact on student achievements

3.      Mentoring program impacted more on improvement of the teaching process of the mentors who were included directly in intensive training and on small number of teachers that were part of mentoring activities.

4.      Mentors and teachers expressed positive attitude about pilot mentoring program during the focus groups and formative evaluation that TDC component organized in collaboration with RME component.

5.      The process of incorporating the mentoring in the education system is very slow and the schools are faced with problems related with the mentors’ status, recognition, and rewarding

After teachers were trained for interactive teaching methodology and started to apply the methods in their classes, the evaluations that the component made suggested that teachers lack appropriate way to assess students. That is why the component started the program Improvement of school based assessment, which was realized in three phases, according to the principle training of trainers.

The focus of this training is to provide the teachers with skills for classroom assessment and for use of various assessment methods to determine student knowledge, skills, and competencies and to assess student growth over time.

The training was realized in III phases  

I phase: SEA trainers trained by IRA Consultants - January 2007

During the first phase, which took place from January 10-13 2007, 20 SEA trainers, 8 BDE Advisors and 3 Inspectors from SEI were trained. The training was conducted by consultants from Ireland, Gerry Shiel and Karl Kitching from st. Patrick College of Education.

II phase: 180 teacher trainers, 50 pedagogues/psychologists trained by 18 SEA trainers - September 2007

After the completion of the first phase of the program Improvement of school based assessment, the trained teachers - SEA trainers - started to work intensively in order to qualify for trainers. During the second semester of the school year 2006/2007 SEA trainers applied the formative assessment methods in their classes and filled in reflection questionnaire which together with written confirmation from the principles and samples from student’s products they delivered to SEA office. With this they qualified for trainers in the second phase. Before the trainings they prepared detailed training plans. The seconds phase took place in Struga in the period of 14-16 September 2008. During the second phase 18 SEA trainers trained 180 teachers (which will train the other 2500 teachers during the third phase), 25 psychologists and pedagogues and 18 advisors from the Bureau for development of education. The evaluation of the workshop suggested that two days and a half is short period in order to go through all topics, thus it was decided the third phase to be divided in two parts of one day and a half.

III phase: 2500 teachers trained by 180 teacher trainers - January and March 2008

In order to qualify for trainers at school level in the third phase of the assessment program, 180 trained teachers during the first semester of the year 2007/2008 applied the assessment methods in their classes, filled in reflection questionnaire and prepared detailed training plans and delivered confirmation from the principal and samples from students work. Apart from this, they attended in a preparatory sessions that were led by SEA trainers that had the following goals:

1.      Explanations of the guidelines given in the letter regarding the time of holding the workshops and their organization

2.      Sharing new experiences for effective teaching practice as a results of the application of the new knowledge and skills gained in the one day workshop with IRA consultants. 

3.      Analysis and understanding of the contents included in the five topics of the assessment manuals

4.      Emphasizing the experiences from the self evaluation of the classes

5.      Explanation of the directions for the procedure for qualification of teacher trainers for assessment;

6.      Adoption of time frame for the first part of the workshop;

7.      Introduction of the directions for preparation of detailed plans for the first part of the workshop.

In January 2008, after the preparatory sessions were conducted and after the teacher trainers successfully completed the trainer qualification procedure, the first part of the dissemination took part. In it 2500 teachers from the 50 project vocational high schools in Macedonia participated. Advisors from the Bureau for development of education observed the workshops. For the results of the evaluation of the first part click HERE

The second part of the dissemination was held in March 2008. Before the second part took place, SEA trainers had preparatory meeting with the teacher trainers in order to give them directions for the second part of the dissemination to be even more successful. 2500 teachers from 50 project schools attended the second part of the workshop. Besides the original manual, the trainers used additional materials that were prepared by SEA office. The advisors from the BDE observed the second part of the dissemination.

After the end of the workshops, the teachers will be stimulated to use formative assessment methods in their classes, and those teachers that will use all methods at least once will receive certificate for use of formative assessment.

The teacher development component in collaboration with the Ministry of education and science formed a task force that will create a national document with standards for professional development in order to ensure sustainability of the activities. The task force started with work in July 2007 and has had five meetings since than. Members of the task force are representatives from couple of institutions - Ministry of education and science; Bureau for development of education; Vocational and educational training center; Trade union for education, science and culture, university and schools.

The key factors for creating the document are:

1.      Necessity for improvement of the effectiveness in the work of the schools in terms of high-quality instruction and better students' achievements through establishment of standards for teacher professional development

2.      Analysis done on many research conducted worldwide in terms of effective professional development and effective instruction.

3.      Using the effects and results of the TDC programs and incorporating them in the education system.

The goal of task force is to design the standards for teacher professional development that will guide the planning, implementation and evaluation of professional development that improves the learning of teachers and students.

The plan of the task force is to design the following aspects of teacher professional development:

1. Characteristic and principles of high quality professional development

2. Standards for teacher professional development

3. Standards for teacher competencies

4. Career development of teachers and certification

5. Manual for the schools - Planning teacher professional development

The activities of the task force are divided in five phases

1.      First phase - Analysis and research of the current state

·         Analysis of the existing system for teacher professioanl development and effects of the system

·         Analysis of systems and models for effective professional development in other countries

1. Second phase - Establishing system for teacher professioanl development by development of the following aspects:

·         Standards for professional development of teachers

·         Standards for teachers competences

·         Career development of teachers

·         Certifying teacher mentors

1. Third phase - Incorporating the developed aspects in the system institutions at state local and school level (building capacities, defining roles and consequences for each level)

2. Forth phase - Work on plan for implementation of suggested system for teacher professional development.

3. Fifth phase - Implementation of the plan, monitoring and evaluation

I phase - Analysis and research of the current state

 A. The group prepared Analysis of the current system for teacher professional development and effects of the system. The goals of the analysis were:

1. Studying the current laws and law regulations regarding teacher professional development;

2.      Determining the way in which current law regulation functions.

3.      Discovering reasons for not functioning of the law regulation (absence of model/system for development of the teaching staff through their professional career);

1. Determening the capacities of the system institution and defining their roles and responsibilities.

B.  The group also worked on Analysis of systems and models of effective professional development in other countries and there are a lot of documents translated ( standards for professional development and standards for competences in number of countries), and there were organized workshops led by IRA Consultants in which was established a frame for different aspects of the document. 

II phase - Establishing system for teacher professioanl development by development of the following aspects

1. Draft version of the document for principles and standards for professional development and standards for competencies of teachers.

2. Draft version of the Manual for professional development for the school needs which will contain:

·         Planning of professional development

·         Conducting the planned activities

·         Evaluation of the effects of the conducted activities

·         Analytical list/rubruc for evaluation of the quality of the professional development activities

The main goal of the evaluation activities is to measure the effectiveness of the activities in relation to instructional quality and student’s achievement and to use the results for planning the future activities and taking actions.

The teacher development component is focusing on the following activities:

1.      Training evaluation

2.      School self-evaluation

3.      Formative evaluation research

1.   Training evaluation

All trainings are evaluated by each participant to assess the quality of the activities, usefulness of the contents and qualification of the trainers for conducting the activities. 

For the results of the assessment training in September click here

For the results of the dissemination in January click here1

For the results of the workshop in November click here2

2.   School self-evaluation

The teacher development component involves the schools in self evaluation of the teacher professional development, using participative approach and the goals are:

1.  

   • Self - analysis, analysis and refection of the effects of the professional development activities that the project schools have accomplished.

   • Using the findings of the evaluation for planning of the future professional development activities and taking actions.

More about the results of the last self-evaluation click here3

            3.   Formative evaluation

The formative evaluation is focused on assessment of the teaching practice and the results contribute for identifying the future direction in which the component will be implemented.